"TITTER YE NOT"
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"Thank you for calling the Freedom of Speech hotline where we believe that it is every persons right to voice their opinions without
fear of recrimination".
"Calls will be monitored
and recorded".
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In a move to show freedom of speech, the next issue of Charlie Hebdo will feature more satirical
cartoons of
Mohammed and will be sold at production
cost.
It's not-for-prophet.
******************
"Political
Correctness:
What the fuck happened to freedom of speech?"
I'm afraid it's freedom of expression now, as the archaic usage is found to be deemed offensive to people of a speech prohibited nature.
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Full Sky TV Debate:
Freedom Of Speech
Vs Freedom Of Religion
Free speech zones (also known as First Amendment zones, free
speech cages, and protest zones) There are areas set aside in
public places that are used to restrict the ability of Americans
citizens to exercise their right of free speech in the United States
by forcing them into these zones. The First Amendment to the
United States Constitution states that "Congress shall make no law
... abridging... the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and
to petition the Government for a redress of
grievances." The existence of free speech zones
is based on U.S. court decisions stipulating that
The government may regulate the time, place, and
manner—but not content—of expression.
The Supreme Court has developed a four-part
analysis to evaluate the constitutionality of time,
place, and manner (TPM) restrictions. To pass
muster under the First Amendment, TPM
restrictions must be neutral with respect to content,
narrowly drawn, serve a significant government
interest, and leave open alternative channels of
communication. Application of this four-part
analysis varies with the circumstances of each case, and typically requires lower standards for
the restriction of obscenity and fighting words. Free speech zones have been used at a variety
of political gatherings. The stated purpose of free speech zones is to protect the safety of those
attending the political gathering or the safety of the protesters themselves. Critics, however,
suggest that such zones are " Orwellian " and that authorities use them in a heavy-handed
manner to censor protesters by putting them literally out of sight of the mass media, hence the
public, as well as visiting dignitaries. Though authorities generally deny specifically targeting
protesters, on a number of occasions, these denials have been contradicted by subsequent
court testimony. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has filed, with various degrees of
success and failure, a number of lawsuits on the issue. Though free speech zones existed prior
to the Presidency of George W. Bush, it was during Bush's presidency that their scope was greatly expanded. These zones have continued through the presidency of Barack Obama; he signed a bill in 2012 that expanded the power of the Secret Service to restrict speech and make arrests.
Many colleges and universities earlier instituted free speech zone rules during the Vietnam-era protests of the 1960s and 1970s. In recent years, a number of them have revised or removed these restrictions following student protests and lawsuits.
Free-Speech ISLAM STYLE
- Unblasphemy.
During the 1988 Democratic National Convention, the city of Atlanta, Georgia, set up a " designated protest zone " so the convention would not be disrupted. A pro-choice demonstrator opposing an Operation Rescue group said Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young "put us in a free-speech cage." "Protest zones" were used during the 1992 and 1996 United States presidential nominating conventions.
Free speech zones have been used for non-political purposes. Through the 1990s, the San Francisco International Airport played host to a steady stream of religious groups (Hare Krishnas in particular), preachers, and beggars. The city considered whether this public transportation hub was required to host free speech, and to what extent. As a compromise, two "free speech booths" were installed in the South Terminal, and groups wishing to speak but not having direct business at the airport were directed there. These booths still exist, although permits are required to access the booths.
WTO Ministerial Conference of 1999 protest activity saw a number of changes to how law enforcement deals with protest activities. "The National Lawyers Guild,
which has a 35-year history of monitoring First Amendment activity, has witnessed a notable change in police treatment of political protesters since the November 1999 World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle. At subsequent gatherings in Washington, D.C., Detroit, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago, and Portland, a pattern of behaviour that stifles First Amendment rights has emerged".
In a subsequent lawsuit, the United States Court of Appeals found that "It was lawful for the city of Seattle to deem part of downtown off-limits...the court also said that police enforcing the rule may have gone too far by targeting only those opposed to the WTO, in violation of their First Amendment rights."
Free speech zones were used in Boston at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. The free speech zones organized by the authorities in Boston were boxed in by concrete walls, invisible to the Fleet Center where the convention was held and criticized harshly as a "protest pen" or " Boston's Camp X-Ray ". "Some protesters, for a short time Monday, July 26th, 2004, converted the zone into a mock prison camp by donning hoods and marching in the cage with their hands behind their backs." A coalition of groups protesting the Iraq War challenged the planned protest zones. U.S. District Court Judge Douglas Woodlock was sympathetic to their request:
"One cannot conceive of what other design elements could be put into a space to create a more symbolic affront to the role of free expression.". However, he ultimately rejected the petition to move the protest zones closer to the Fleet Center.
Free speech zones were also used in New York City at the 2004 Republican National Convention. According to Mike McGuire, a columnist for the online anti-war magazine Nonviolent Activist, "The policing of the protests during the 2004 Republican National Convention represented another interesting model of repression. The NYPD tracked every planned action and set up traps. As marches began, police would emerge from their hiding places — building vestibules, parking garages, or vans — and corral the dissenters with orange netting that read 'POLICE LINE – DO not CROSS,' establishing areas they ironically called 'ad-hoc free speech zones.' One by one, protesters were arrested and detained—some for nearly two days." Both the Democratic and Republican National parties were jointly awarded a 2005 Jefferson Muzzle from the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression, "For their mutual failure to make the preservation of First Amendment freedoms a priority during the last Presidential election".
1984 FILM TRAILER
“If you want to keep a secret,
you must also hide it from yourself.”
Free speech zones were commonly used by President George W. Bush
after the September 11 attacks and through the 2004 election. Free speech
zones were set up by the Secret Service , who scouted locations where the
U.S. president was scheduled to speak or pass through. Officials targeted
those who carried anti-Bush signs and escorted them to the free speech
zones prior to and during the event. Reporters were often barred by local
officials from displaying these protesters on camera or speaking to them
within the zone. Protesters who refused to go to the free speech zone were
often arrested and charged with trespassing, disorderly conduct, and/or
resisting arrest. A seldom-used federal law making it unlawful to "willfully
and knowingly to enter or remain in... any posted, cordoned off, or otherwise
restricted area of a building or grounds where the President or other person
protected by the Secret Service is or will be temporarily visiting" has also
been invoked.
Civil liberties advocates argue that Free Speech Zones are used as a form
of censorship and public relations management to conceal the existence of
popular opposition from the mass public and elected officials. There is much
controversy surrounding the creation of these areas — the mere existence
of such zones is offensive to some people, who maintain that the First
Amendment to the United States Constitution makes the entire country an
unrestricted free speech zone. The Department of Homeland Security "has
even gone so far as to tell local police departments to regard critics of the
War on Terrorism as potential terrorists themselves."
The Bush administration has been criticized by columnist James Bovard of
The American Conservative for requiring protesters to stay within a
designated area, while allowing supporters access to more areas. According
to the Chicago Tribune, the American Civil Liberties Union has asked a
federal court in Washington, D.C., to prevent the Secret Service from keeping anti-Bush protesters distant from presidential appearances while allowing supporters to display their messages up close, where they are likely to be seen by the news media.
The preliminary plan for the 2004 Democratic National Convention was criticized by the National Lawyers Guild and the ACLU of Massachusetts as being insufficient to handle the size of the expected protest. "The zone would hold as few as 400 of the several thousand protesters who are expected in Boston in late July."
In 1939, the United States Supreme Court found in Hague v. Committee for Industrial Organization that public streets and parks "have immemorially been held in trust for the use of the public and, time out of mind, have been used for purposes of assembly, communicating thoughts between citizens, and discussing public questions." In the later Thornhill v. Alabama case, the court found that picketing and marching in public areas is protected by the United States Constitution as free speech. However, subsequent rulings – Edwards v. South Carolina, Brown v. Louisiana, Cox v. Louisiana, and Adderley v. Florida – found that picketing is afforded less protection than pure speech due to the physical externalities it creates. Regulations on demonstrations may affect the time, place, and manner of those demonstrations, but may not discriminate based on the content of the demonstration.
EXERCISE FREE SPEECH strengthen the 1st amendment USE IT OR LOSE IT.
"These [ Free Speech ] zones routinely succeed in keeping protesters out of presidential sight and outside the view of media covering the event. When Bush came to the Pittsburgh area on Labor Day 2002, 65 year-old retired steelworker Bill Neel was there to greet him with a sign proclaiming, "The Bush family must surely love the poor, they made so many of us."
'The local police, at the Secret Service's behest, set up a 'designated free- speech zone' on a baseball field surrounded by a chain-link fence a third of a mile from the location of Bush's speech. The police cleared the path of the motorcade of all critical signs, though folks with pro-Bush signs were permitted to line the president's path. Neel refused to go to the designated area and was arrested for disorderly conduct. Police detective John Ianachione testified that the Secret Service told local police to confine 'people that were there making a statement pretty much against the president and his views.' "District justice Shirley Trkula threw out the charges, stating that" I believe this is America. Whatever happened to 'I don't agree with you, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it'?
At another incident during a presidential visit to South Carolina, protester Brett Bursey refused an order by Secret Service agents to go to a free speech zone half a mile away. He was arrested and charged with trespassing by the South Carolina police. "Bursey said that he asked the policeman if 'it was the content of my sign,' and he said, 'Yes, sir, it's the content of your sign that's the problem.' "
However, the prosecution, led by James Strom Thurmond Jr., disputes Bursey's version of events. Trespassing charges against Bursey were dropped, and Bursey was instead indicted by the federal government for violation of a federal law that allows the Secret Service to restrict access to areas visited by the president. Bursey faced up to six months in prison and a US$5,000 fine. After a bench trial, Bursey was convicted of the offense of trespassing, but judge Bristow Marchan deemed the offense to be relatively minor and ordered a fine of $500 to be assessed, which Bursey appealed and lost. In his ruling, Marchant found that "this is not to say that the Secret Service's power to restrict the area around the President is absolute, nor does the Court find that protesters are required to go to a designated demonstration area — which was an issue in this case — as long as they do not otherwise remain in a properly restricted area."
Marchant's ruling, however, was criticized for three reasons:
-
The ruling found that Bursey was not the victim of selective prosecution because Bursey was the only person who had refused an order to leave the area. However, this overlooks the fact that nobody else refused to leave the zone because nobody else was asked to leave.
-
The prosecution claimed that the protected zone around the President was 100 yards wide. However, it was unmarked, with cars and trucks allowed to pass through and drop off ticket-holders, and nobody was willing to tell protesters where the zone's boundaries were. Marchant's decision noted this but did not find this unreasonable.
-
Marchant found that in the "age of suicide bombers", the Secret Service should have latitude to get rid of anyone suspicious who is standing near the president's route. However, given that the reason Bursey was singled out by the Secret Service was his sign, "it's enough to make anyone with a dissenting view think twice before deciding to stand out from a crowd."
"I think my first album opened a lot of
doors for me to push the freedom of
speech to the limit." Eminem
In 2003, the ACLU brought a lawsuit against the Secret Service, ACORN v.
Secret Service, representing the Association of Community Organizations
for Reform Now (ACORN). "The federal court in Philadelphia dismissed that
case in March 2004 after the Secret Service acknowledged that it could not
discriminate against protesters through the use of out-of-sight, out-of-
earshot protest zones." Another 2003 lawsuit against the city of Philadelphia,
ACORN v. Philadelphia charged that the Philadelphia Police Department,
on orders from the Secret Service, had kept protesters "further away from
the site of presidential visits than Administration supporters. A high-ranking
official of the Philadelphia police told ACLU of Pennsylvania Legal Director
Stefan Presser that he was only following Secret Service orders." However,
the court found the ACLU lacked standing to bring the case and dismissed it.
The Secret Service says it does establish 'public viewing areas' to protect
dignitaries, but does not discriminate against individuals based on the
content of their signs or speech. 'Absolutely not,' said Tom Mazur , a
spokesman for the agency created to protect the president. 'The Secret
Service makes no distinction on the purpose, message, or intent of any
individual or group.' Civil libertarians dispute that. They cite a Corpus Christi,
Texas, a couple, Jeff and Nicole Rank, as an example. The two were arrested at a Bush campaign event in Charleston, West Virginia, on July 4th, 2004, when they refused to take off anti-Bush shirts. Their shirts read, 'Love America, Hate Bush'... The ACLU found 17 cases since March 2001 in which protesters were removed during events where the president or vice president appeared. And lawyers say it's an increasing trend.
The article is slightly mistaken about the contents of the shirts. While Nicole Rank's shirt did say "Love America, Hate Bush", Jeff Rank's shirt said " Regime change starts at home ."
The incident occurred several months after the Secret Service's pledge in ACORN v. Secret Service not to discriminate against protesters. "The charges against the Ranks were ultimately dismissed in court, and the mayor and city council publicly apologized for the arrest. City officials also said that local law enforcement was acting at the request of the Secret Service." ACLU Senior Staff Attorney Chris Hansen pointed out that "The Secret Service has promised to not curtail the right to dissent at presidential appearances, and yet we are still hearing stories of people being blocked from engaging in lawful protest," said Hansen. "It is time for the Secret Service to stop making empty promises." The Ranks subsequently filed a lawsuit, Rank v. Jenkins, against Deputy Assistant to the President Gregory Jenkins and the Secret Service. "The lawsuit, Rank v. Jenkins , is seeking unspecified damages as well as a declaration that the actions leading to the removal of the Ranks from the Capitol grounds were unconstitutional." In August 2007, the Ranks settled their lawsuit against the Federal Government. The government paid them $80,000, but made no admission of wrongdoing. The Ranks' case against Gregory Jenkins is still pending in the District of Columbia.
As a result of ACLUsubpoenasduringthediscoveryintheRanklawsuit,theACLUobtainedtheWhiteHouse'spreviouslyclassified
presidential advance manual . The manual gives people organizing presidential visits specific advice for
preventing or obstructing protests. "There are several ways the advance person" – the person organizing the presidential visit– "can prepare a site to minimize demonstrators. First, as always, work with the Secret Service to and have them ask the local police department to designate a protest area where demonstrators can be placed, preferably not in view of the event site or motorcade route. The formation of 'rally squads' is a common way to prepare for demonstrators... The rally squad's task is to use their signs and banners as shields between the demonstrators and the main press platform... "As a last resort, security should remove the demonstrators from the event site."
“If freedom of speech is taken away,
then dumb and silent we may be led,
like sheep to the slaughter.”
― George Washington
The use of free speech zones on university campuses is controversial. Many universities created on-campus free speech zones during the 1960s and 1970s, during which on-campus protests (especially against the Vietnam War) were common. Generally, the requirements are that the university is given advance notice and that they are held in locations that do not disrupt classes.
In 1968, the Supreme Court ruled in Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District that non-disruptive speech is permitted in public schools. However, this does not apply to private universities. In September 2004, U.S. District Court Judge Sam Cummings struck down the free speech zone policy at Texas Tech University. "According to the opinion of the court, campus areas such as parks, sidewalks, streets, and other areas are designated as public forums , regardless of whether the university has chosen to officially designate the areas as such. The university may open more of the campus as public forums for its students, but it cannot designate university's police to the extent that it regulates the content of student speech in areas of the campus that are public forums".
In 2007, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education released a survey of 346 colleges and Universities in the United States. Of those institutions, 259 (75%) maintain policies that "both clearly and substantially restrict freedom of speech." In December 2005, the College Libertarians at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro staged a protest outside the University's designated protest zones. The specific intent of the protest was to provoke just such a charge, in order to "provoke the system into action into a critical review of what's going on." Two students, Allison Jaynes and Robert Sinnott, were brought up on charges under the student code of conduct of " violation of respect " for refusing to move when told to do so by a university official. The university subsequently dropped honour code charges against the students. "University officials said the history of the free-speech zones is not known. 'It predated just about everybody here," said Lucien 'Skip' Capone III, the university attorney. "The policy may be a holdover from the Vietnam War and civil rights era, he said.'"
A number of colleges and universities have revised free speech zone policies in the last decade, including:
Tufts University
Appalachian State University and West Virginia University. In August 2006, Penn State University revised its seven-year-old rules restricting the rights of students to protest. "In effect, the whole campus is now a 'free-speech zone."
Controversies have also occurred at the University of Southern California, Indiana University, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and Brigham Young University. At Marquette University , philosophy department chairman James South ordered graduate student Stuart Ditsler to remove an unattributed Dave Barry quote from the door to the office that Ditsler shared
with three other teaching assistants, calling the quote patently offensive.
(The quote was:
"As Americans, we must always remember that we all have a common enemy, an enemy that is dangerous, powerful, and relentless. I refer, of course, to the federal government.")
South claimed that the University's free-speech zone rules required Ditsler to take it down. University spokeswoman Brigid O'Brien Miller stated that it was "a workplace issue, not one of academic freedom." Ultimately, the quote was allowed to remain, albeit with attribution.
A protest permit or parade permit is permission granted by a governmental agency for a demonstration to be held in a particular venue at a particular time. Failing to obtain a permit may lead to charges of parading without a permit. The requirement of a permit is sometimes denounced as an infringement of free speech, as permits are denied on spurious grounds or protesters are corralled into free speech zones. Permits are sometimes denied on the grounds that the protest will create a security risk. There seems to be evidence that the available venues for protests are shrinking in number; that citizens have experienced increasing difficulty in gaining unrestricted access to them; and that such venues are no longer where most people typically congregate in large numbers.
In Washington, DC, the National Park Service Police, U.S. Capitol Police, and Metropolitan Police of the District of Columbia have an elaborate permitting system. Many famous people, like Martin Luther King, Jr have been arrested for protesting without a permit.
WINSTON CHURCHILL
FREE SPEECH
You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something,
sometime in your life.
A Speakers' Corner is an area where open-air public speaking, debate, and discussion are allowed. The original and most noted is in the northeast corner of Hyde Park in London , United Kingdom.
Speakers here may talk on any subject, as long as the police consider their speeches lawful, although this right is not restricted to Speakers' Corner only. Contrary to popular belief, there is no immunity from the law, nor are any subjects proscribed, but in practice, the police tend to be tolerant and therefore intervene only when they receive a complaint. On some occasions in the past, they have intervened on grounds of profanity.
Tom L. Johnson, the radical reforming Mayor of Cleveland (1901-1909), dedicated the north-west quadrant of Public Square to Free Speech, as in Hyde Park. Speeches and meetings were common in the early part of the century; Anarchist Emma Goldman addressed a large crowd there in 1908. Today, the site remains the traditional place for rallies and demonstrations in Cleveland, around Mayor Johnson's statue.
The pedestrian-only area of Pennsylvania Avenue on the north side of the White House in Washington, DC, has become a de facto speaker's corner.
The material on this site does not necessarily reflect the views of What If? Tees.
The Images and Text are not meant to offend but to Promote Positive Open Debate and Free Speech.
The material on this site does not reflect the views of What If? Tees.
The Images and Text are not meant to offend but to Promote Positive Open Debate and Free Speech.